Fragments
by CarJanLucy
Summary: He felt like he'd met this girl before but try as he might he just couldn't remember. Just what was it about Lucy Heartfilla that made him feel so nostalgic? He could tell that she was keeping something from him, something important; and Natsu Dragneel was going to do everything in his power to find out exactly what it was.


**Hey guys! After many years on FFN I've finally gotten the guts and inspiration-**_**ish **_**to sit my ass down and write a story. Not sure if this should be a long-ass one-shot or a multi-chapter fic, so let me know what you guys think. Hope you enjoy!  
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**FRAGMENTS**

**Prequel Part 1 – Meeting You the First Time**

Lucy Heartfilla, age 7, was roaming around unattended on her family's _enormous_ estate one day; enormous as in its size gave the land of Foire a run for its money ; her birthday actually, after having been harshly disregarded by her father, Jude Heartfilla. He'd forgotten once again, or simply just didn't care that today was her seventh birthday. By now she really shouldn't be all that let down seeing as though he'd been this way ever since her mother Layla had passed away 3 years ago.

"Mama…," she thought as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "How I wish you were still here. Papa barely pays me any attention and he's become an even worse workaholic than ever before. He never remembers my birthday, never wants to have me in his presence and worst of all, not once have I seen him smile since the day before your passing. Oh mama, it's just horrible! I know you're always watching over me, but I need you now more than ever. To be in your arms while you patted my hair in that comforting way that only you knew how to do, to remind me that papa does love me no matter how busy he got sometimes, to just be in your presence and feel your love, mama. Everything was just better when you were around. I miss you so much."

This time, young Lucy didn't bother keeping her tears in check and allowed them to fall freely down her cheeks. She'd been trying to be a strong daughter for her father, maturing in ways that was well beyond her years. She'd always keep up a positive front, smiling and staying optimistic for the sake of her father and her companions at home. But today, especially today, it had just been too much to handle. Though she always goes out of her way to please her father, first and foremost learning to become a knowledgeable and accomplished woman that he expects her to be, doing everything that was asked of her and always going out of her way to make her dad something to help brighten his day, although never to any avail, today she just couldn't handle his ruthlessness. She'd specially made him a rice ball putting all her love and effort into it in hopes of him actually acknowledging her efforts for once and yet once again, she'd been let down.

Somewhere along the way Lucy had fallen to her knees, crying, letting out all the pent up emotions she had concerning her father. After a while she started to wipe the tears from her eyes and finally looked around. She was surprised to find that she had unknowingly led herself into one of their forests a ways away from her mansion. She couldn't even see it from where she currently was. Lucy was a little scared, couldn't blame her, she was only seven years old and it had started to become dark. Fighting her fears she slowly got up from the ground and dusted her knees off. Determined to make it back home, or at least to find a clearing, she started walking thinking that whichever direction was as good as any.

Lucy had been walking awhile and yet she was still surrounded by the forest. Undeterred she kept walking until she started to hear some noise. It sounded like crying. Hesitating for only a bit she walked on, determined to find the source of the noise.

Lucy was a kind-hearted girl; she could never ignore anyone who needed a helping hand. She did her best in everything and despite her wealth and unlike most rich little girl, she was the most generous person everyone in her estate had known. You couldn't help falling in love with this adorable bundle of joy. Friendly, selfless and caring were just some of her many admirable attributes.

Lucy came by a huge bunch of bushes and she knew that whatever was making that noise was just beyond that patch. With complete disregard of her dress getting ruined, she pushed her way through, only caring about whoever was crying on the other side.

Ignoring the sting of the scratches on her skin, she escaped the bush with one last tug of her dress only to be met by…nothing.

"Hello?" she called out. Looking around she saw no one, but weirdly enough she felt that the temperature in this place had begun to rise. Instead of feeling frightened, her curiosity got the better of her.

"Please come out, I know you're there. I just want to help."

He had heard something rustling in the bushes amidst his crying, frightened, he hid behind the nearest tree before it was able to fully escape only catching a glimpse of an arm right before he hid himself. Maybe it was the way her voice sounded, so sincere and so comforting that a few seconds later, after wiping his eyes, little by little, a head with pink hair started to pop out from behind a tree. By the look of his face Lucy could tell that this was the boy who had been crying.

"Hi there, I'm Lucy. Don't be scared," she prompted, "I just wanna help." She said this with a small smile on her face. He didn't know why but the boy in question, having felt no malice in her whatsoever, was comforted by her presence.

"I-I wasn't scared." He said, stepping out from behind the tree. This boy looked to be just about her age or maybe a year older, with strangely pink hair Lucy had never seen before. His clothes seemed somewhat worn out and rugged as if he'd only been wearing one outfit for the past couple of weeks, only wearing knee-length shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. The piece of clothing that stood out most was this scaly looking scarf around his neck. "I was just being cautious. Don't you know how dangerous it is out here in the woods? There could be Vulcans or even huge gorillas. I would know I've seen them. You shouldn't be out here." He was completely facing her now. Trying his best to look tough, he made sure that there wasn't a trace of tears left on his face.

Disregarding his warning , "There aren't any of those creatures around here nor will there be any miles on out. This is my family's land after all so I would know." She said this trying to reassure him. Being the well-mannered girl that she was, Lucy reintroduced herself.

"I'm Lucy Heartfilla. It's nice to meet you…?"

Taken aback by her formality and her previous statement, the boy suddenly felt embarrassed. Although he looked down, he introduced himself as well.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel…" For some reason, he couldn't meet her gaze.

"Well Natsu, It's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled. "Why were you crying? Are you lost? I can try and help you escape this forest if you want.

"I –I wasn't crying!" although even to himself he knew this was very unconvincing. Surprisingly enough she didn't push the matter and just nodded her head in understanding.

"I-I wasn't lost either. I'm looking for my dad, Igneel!" Although fist bumping the air, Lucy could tell that there was a huge sadness in his eyes. "He, actually, he disappeared a couple of months ago and I've been looking for him ever since. And even though I haven't yet, I'm sure if I just kept looking he's bound to show up somewhere!"

"So you mean your father just left you, without saying when he'd be back? That's horrible!"

Natsu then met her gaze head on. "Of course he didn't leave me.. at least not by choice. I don't know why he disappeared when he did but I know, I just know, that if I don't give up I'll find him one day." And he really believed this, she could tell. She had to admire his determination so Lucy, being Lucy, "Well, then, would you mind if I helped you look for your dad? Although, we should probably start looking again tomorrow, it is getting dark and we wouldn't wanna be stuck out here in the forest all night."

For the second time that day, Lucy had surprised him. He'd never met someone like her before. Usually when he'd tell people that he was looking for his father, they'd just tell him to go home and wait patiently. _(Some pitied him of course but none of them really cared. Natsu didn't blame them, it wasn't their problem so he didn't take it personally.)_ That he'd obviously be back. Actually having tried those suggestions, he knew of course that they were false, and that he had to search for his dad himself if he wanted to see him again. This was the first time that he'd ever met a person who actually offered to help him look, someone who actually _cared_. It made him feel so grateful that his eyes were starting to get moist once again.

"He-Hey, don't cry! I'm sure we'll find him! I promise to help you through this no matter how long it takes." She reassuringly gave him a hug, initially only hesitating a bit before completely wrapping her hands around him, one hand gently patting his head up and down while the other rubbing circles in the middle of his back, just like her mother used to do on her.

Natsu was only an eight year old boy, and after being alone for so long, with only himself to depend on, he could no longer keep in all the sadness that was welling within his heart. He poured out everything, all the feelings of grief, abandonment, loneliness and frustration, to name a few, onto this girl whom he had just met. This girl who was so nice, so caring and whom he felt was so loving, he felt protected in her arms in a way that was similar to how he felt when in Igneel's presence. He hugged her back as tight as he could making her feel all his emotions and letting out everything that he'd been keeping in for far too long, opening his heart out to her. He was more than shocked to find that she too had begun to cry, _crying for him _he realized, holding him as close as possible, he could practically_ feel_ her overwhelming sense of concern and understanding towards him and despite only having met her he could already feel something welling deep within his heart for this girl. He already knew that she was going to be the one of the most special people in his life.

They stayed that way for a while, both crying, both innocently trusting each other and both still hugging with all they had. After what felt like a _long _while had passed, they slowly released themselves from the embrace. Lucy wiped away Natsu's tears with a handkerchief that she'd pulled out from the folds of her dress; at the same time Natsu had wiped her tear-stained face with his scarf. She smiled at him and this time he returned the gesture. This was probably, most definitely the closest Natsu had ever been, had ever felt with another human – and he_ liked_ it.

From that point Lucy knew that she'd do whatever it took to help Natsu find his father. They took a moment to just stare at each other, both smiling knowingly, sharing a mutual feeling.

This was going to be the start of a great friendship.

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**So yeah this is just the beginning and if I do decide, based on the love this gets from the readers or based purely from the want to continue on my behalf, to continue this story, sometime in the future chapters this will most likely be a flashback style fic. Not really the long-ass one-shot I had originally planned for this but I'm oddly contented with it so far.**

**I hate in-progress stories so I'll try my best to finish this fic as fast as I can. I also despise in-progress stories that seem to have been abandoned by their authors so I'll try hard, **_**super hard**_** to update this as regularly as possible and fight my own laziness and lack of motivation. I just promise to **_**try. **_

**So what'd you guys think so far? Love it? Hate it? Don't really feeling anything about it? Leave a review and let me know, it'd be greatly appreciated!**


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